Davis, Addington advance to State tourney

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

INDEPENDENCE -- Davis Drake and Gage Addington will represent Fort Scott High School at the Class 4A State Tennis Tournament this weekend following a sixth-place finish at the Independence Regional here Friday and Monday.

This will be the first State trip for both players.

"We, of course, would have liked to finish a little higher, but they were able to qualify for the State Tournament this weekend in Wichita, and that is an accomplishment they should feel very good about," Fort Scott head coach Lynn Barr said.

Drake and Addington (17-9) were the fourth-seeded team in the doubles bracket. They took a straight-set shutout over Chanute's Ryan Madden and Logan Bennett in the first round, 6-0, 6-0. Tyler Beardmore and Kevin DeBald of Parsons, the No. 5 seed, took a 6-4, 7-5 win in the semifinals.

In the consolation bracket, Drake and Addington defeated Bryan Mueller and Colby Works of Iola, 6-2, 6-2. That win assured them of a berth into the State Tournament. Sixth-seeded Micah Hashman and Nick Powers of Pittsburg took the fifth-place match, 4-6, 6-4, 7-5.

"The matches they won, they won very convincingly and were in control throughout the match," Barr said. "Both of their losses were very close matches with only a few key points here and there separating the teams. In both losses, both teams played good tennis, but the opponents just came away with a few more of those key points than we did. If you look at the scores, the teams placing third through sixth were all very evenly balanced."

Hayden Barr and Alex Combs were also entered in doubles but were eliminated in one match by Ross Westervelt and Justin Garrison of Columbus, 9-7, in a "play-in" match as there were 17 entries.

"Hayden has done a nice job for us this season," Barr said. "He's improved, and he has played hard for us this year. Alex has also improved and has done a nice job in his first year of tennis. He has a lot of potential and with work will be a big part of our program in the coming years."

D.J. Blethen lost a first-round singles match to fourth-seeded Josh Hilger of Independence, the No. 4 seed, 6-0, 6-0. Raifen Cruse was in one of two play-in matches since there were 18 entries and lost to Mitchell Reitz of Coffeyville, 9-0.

"Raifen just had trouble getting started in his match and just could never find a good rhythm, but his opponent also played a good match against him and kept Raifen from being able to play his normal match." Barr said. "D.J. also gave us a great effort in this tournament. This young man has improved tremendously since the beginning of the season. He faced a very tough opponent in this tournament and played hard against him. "

Payton Hays of Parsons won the singles title with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Independence's Lane Schicke in the final. Josh Hilger of Independence, Cody Spainhower of Columbus, Hank Cloninger and Adrian McAfee of Pittsburg also qualified.

Posch/Webster of Independence won the doubles crown with a 6-0, 6-0 sweep of Pittsburg's Benham/Creech in the final. The other qualifiers are Beardmore and DeBald and Indy's Goodrich/Hardy.

Independence won the team title with 23 points followed by Pittsburg with 14, each of which qualified all four of their entries to State. Fort Scott finished in sixth place with 2 points.

The Regional was originally scheduled for Thursday and Friday but inclement weather and slick courts caused the first day of play to be put off until Friday. The final rounds were held Monday, with still less-than-ideal weather in the area.

"I was really proud of the way our guys handled the conditions," Barr said. "They stayed focused and played hard in spite of less than ideal conditions."

The Class 4A State Tournament will be held at Wichita Collegiate High School Friday and Saturday.